We had quite a comical scene in recent days with Government Deputies from the two political parties fighting over microphones in radio studios throughout the country trying to take credit for the capital investment programme that was announced. It would be important to have a debate on that capital investment programme in the House. In that context we should have enough time to talk about the real issue that is at the heart of Irish society at present, which is homelessness and the housing crisis in general. It is always politicised as was seen this morning with more one-upmanship on dealing with an issue that is now at crisis point.

Let us be under no illusions; it is a legacy on the Government parties' behalf. They came into government claiming that there were too many houses in the country and they are leaving government with a shortage of houses. We are now putting people into emergency portakabins. By any stretch of the imagination the homelessness issue has been an unmitigated failure on the Government's behalf to address what was always going to be an issue. People do not stop growing up, having children, growing older or forming different house formations. All of that was politely ignored by the Government for the past four and a half years. We now find that we are running around trying to find emergency accommodation in portakabins for families.

Is the Deputy calling for a debate?

At the start of the Government's term, it claimed it would knock 10,000 or 11,000 houses because there were too many in the country. So it is a fair legacy to have after four and a half years. Could we have a debate on the capital investment programme to allow all parties to discuss the ambition or lack of it in that and the inherent difficulty in terms of homelessness and the need to deal with this particular crisis and maybe even in a non-partisan way at this stage? We do not have a functioning banking system that is lending properly to people who seek mortgages. We have problems with regulations and with planning.

The Deputy is going into detail now. I want to call the Tánaiste to reply.

I ask for us to have that debate as urgently as possible.

There will be a dedicated debate on the capital programme, which will put a significant amount of public investment into the capital programme over the next five years. In fact it will provide employment, particularly in the building trade for tens of thousands of people-----

The Tánaiste is late on that one. People are sleeping on the streets and families are sleeping in cars.

-----working in that industry.

The Government sat on its hands and did nothing for four and a half years.

We inherited from Fianna Fáil-----

They claimed we already had too many houses in the country.

Please, Deputy-----

----- a country where unfortunately because of its misguided-----

The Government decided to use that and do nothing.

-----and failed actions on the building industry-----

It made a conscious decision.

-----we ended up with the receivers coming into Ireland from the IMF-----

Does the Tánaiste think that will wash with the public?

-----and the other institutions.

The Government parties were elected the last time on that.

We took on the rescue and we are now at a position-----

The Tánaiste is between a one-trick pony and-----

We are now at a position where there has been an enormous improvement in the number of houses now being built. My constituency is a hive of development activity because it is on the outskirts of Dublin. I have not seen such levels of building activity. I know most of the people who are here would not be familiar with Blanchardstown and areas like that.

We are more familiar than the Tánaiste is.

We know there are plenty of empty houses there.

Across the constituency we now have a very significant recommencement of building homes for families which is welcome. That is happening particularly right across Dublin but it is also happening in all the other regions.

It is on the Tánaiste's own back door.

We are also developing a very ambitious social housing programme.

What about the rent cap?

We will be very happy and there will be a debate next week on the capital programme. That will certainly happen next week.

I call Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh.

No debate on housing.